Welcome To A Different, Darker World
by Seadragon
Summary: A secret weapon, back from the dead. Welcome to a Different, Darker World. [Next chapter in progress]
1. Prolouge: Break Away

So this was pain. This thought flashed through my mind and I grabbed a hold of it. It could free me. It could return me to the only people who mattered anymore. Sirius and Remus. My friends. My brothers.  
  
Escape fresh in my mind, I fought. And fought hard. Something inside of me refused to back down, to give in.  
  
So I fought. I wanted to go back, they needed me and I knew it. A lone voice had reached me, I don't know how long ago anymore. It had broken through the fog in my head and gave me a path.  
  
"NO. NO! NO! Come back, come back! We need you. I need you! We are all going to die! You have to come, have to."  
  
Sirius.  
  
My friend had been surrounded by dementors and had screamed this over, and over again.  
  
And I listened. I battered whatever was holding me back, and broke free. 


	2. Chapter 1: Break Clean

"Professor! Professor!" A student screamed, running to the staff room door, pounding on it.  
  
"What is it child?" Professor McGonagall asked, throwing the door open.  
  
The student gulped. "A man. At the gates, appeared from no where. All mangled. In pain. Torn robes. Wants to talk to Professor Dumbledore. Right away."  
  
McGonagall stared at the winded student in front of her and nodded. "Very well, ten points to Hufflepuff." She rushed off to the entrance to Professor Dumbledore's office. She didn't truly understand her reason for urgency, but it was better to hurry.  
  
"Lest we forget." She hissed the password to the stone gargoyle and climbed the stairs it slide back to reveal. When she reached the top, she raised one hand and rapped sharply on the door.  
  
"Yes Minerva?" Came the quiet reply as she stepped into the room. She frowned, trying to remember the student's words.  
  
"There is a man at the gates who wishes to speak to you. A student found me, he is in battered robes and pain. She recalled all the students words, except three.  
  
Dumbledore nodded and sighed. "Alright. You remain here, I may require assistance, Fawkes will let you know." The pheonix gave a soft cooing noise.  
  
"Wait! There was one more thing. He appeared from no where!"  
  
He nodded again and stepped from his office, wand in hand. 


	3. Chapter 2: Break Through

Albus Dumbledore was not known for falling into traps, and he certainly didn't wish to start now.  
  
So of course, he used all resources available to him, including a few that some would say were a tad inappropriate for the headmaster to be using. There fore, before he would greet this stranger, he needed one thing.  
  
The Marauders Map.  
  
He slipped into Filch's office, easily of course, and retrieved the old parchment from a filing cabinet labeled 'Dangerous'. Of course there were only three people alive who knew how to use the Marauder's Map, and he, of course was one of them.  
  
He stepped out of the castle, parchment in hand. "I solemnly swear I am up to no good." One lie couldn't hurt him.  
  
He read the greetings from the Marauders and gave a sad, mournful smile. The words cleared and a map took their place.  
  
Even as he neared the gate, Albus had yet to check the map. When he looked around and saw the man unconscious in the distance, he approached calmly, still not consulting the map.  
  
He looked at the battered man below him and drew in a shaky breath. A silvery cloak lay beside him. His calm abandoned him; he finally inspected the Marauders Map.  
  
A smile broke out Albus Dumbledore's face. The first genuine smile in a long time. The Marauders Map never lied. 


	4. Chapter 3: Break Down

And when it came down to it, I didn't know if I could decide. He repeated his question, he knew I hadn't quite registered. "Sirius do you trust me? Do you promise to try to believe?"  
  
I nodded (what else could I do?) and prepared myself for what he had to say.  
  
"Alright, we are just waiting for one more person." And that was when the door flew open.  
  
"Moony!" My best friend (the only one I had left) nodded. He looked paler than last time I had seen him. It frightened me. Dumbledore asked him the same question he had asked me.  
  
"Remus, when the time comes, will you trust what I have to say?" (Well, all most the same thing). Remus nodded again. I felt he did this for the same reason I did.  
  
What was going on here? What were we waiting for? Dumbledore nodded and I heard a sound I had heard so many times before. I spun around and promptly broke down.  
  
"It can't be." I croaked, falling to my knees on the wooden floor.  
  
"Hey Padfoot." Oh god, it was. It was! It had to be! The tears were falling faster now, but he was crying too. Nothing mattered anymore.  
  
Oh god, he was back! How? HOW?!  
  
That didn't matter, all that mattered was that my best friend was standing in front of me, crying like he had never gone.  
  
"Prongs." One word, only one. He understood, he always had.  
  
"I'm back Padfoot. I'm really back!" I heard Moony's sob, but it didn't matter anymore. Nothing did. Except him. I ran to him and he collapsed on my shoulder.  
  
"I'm really back." He said it firmly; trying to convince himself, it seemed.  
  
"You're really back." I said quietly and Moony joined us. Dumbledore watched from his desk. Three grown men, clinging to each other, crying for all they were worth, but who on earth could blame us?  
  
"The Marauders are back." James whispered. I silently cursed Peter as the tears ran down his face. If it weren't for him, we never would have been separated. 


	5. Chapter 4: What's Wrong With The World

"What are we going to do?" Remus was pacing the room nervously.  
  
Sirius was perched on a cot beside James's. He had been immediately admitted to the hospital wing under the false name of Jamie Potts.  
  
"Wormtail?" James asked.  
  
"Dead. That's why I'm free. Before Remus caught Peter I was in Azkaban for two years." He had apparently forgotten, James didn't know anything that had been happening.  
  
"How long?"  
  
It may have sounded like how long had Wormtail been dead, but really he wanted to know how long he had been gone for, how long he had been leaving his brothers to the cruelty of this world.  
  
"Ten years." Remus stopped pacing and sat next to Sirius.  
  
"Ten. Years? I'm thirty?! Wait," James froze.  
  
Oh no. He was going to ask THAT question. The one everyone dreaded. Couldn't we keep him safer for a litter longer? Safe from his need to end this, to help, to save lives. Safe from the monster who had attempted to kill him atleast twenty times, and had succeeded once, once he knew. Sirius knew it was coming.  
  
"Voldemort, he was defeated right?" At the look on their faces James leapt out of the carefully prepared hospital bed. "He's still out there? Still killing people? And you didn't tell me! I didn't come back to be lied to!" Sirius's face was torn from protecting his best friend and his duty to the world. Apparently James was the most important thing in his life, he always had been.  
  
"James, you can't go back out there yet. You can barely walk in a straight line. You're still an auror. Believe me, when you're better, we will need your help saving the world. You're the only one who can. But no one can know you're back. It would cause madness, the famous James Potter back to rescue us. The savior who kept us safe and alive through the beginning of this terrible war, back to save the world during the worst of this nightmare. Did you see the sky outside? It has turned to eternal darkness by the powers and influence of Voldemort. People are afraid to step out side their houses for fear of him. The greatest forests of the world are constantly burning, never dying. This isn't hope though, it is a symbol of his ruthlessness. They don't know what to tell the muggles, they are dying by the minute, with no explanation. People are afraid to send their children to Hogwarts, fearing they will never see them again. If you go out there before you are healed, you will die, along with the rest of the world. So please just wait, wait and then conquer."  
  
People killin', people dyin'  
  
Children hurt and you hear them cryin'  
  
Can you practice what you preach  
  
And would you turn the other cheek  
  
James sat, and looked at Sirius with a stunned look. "It's that bad?"  
  
"You are our weapon now James, its up to you to save us. No one else can." 


	6. Chapter 5: Hope Restored

"You are our weapon now James, it's up to you to save us. No one else can."  
  
-Sirius Black, Chapter 4: What's Wrong With The World of Welcome to A Different, Darker World by Seadragon ________________________________________________________________  
  
"I'm ready Sirius."  
  
"No." That was Dumbledore, not Sirius. James looked angrily at him.  
  
"What do you mean, NO? I'm healed aren't I?!"  
  
"Well, yes. But you still don't know what has changed since you were, twenty, remember James, everything changes. And this time you don't have Lily to keep you from losing control. The muggle world is different, Voldemort is different. Even if you haven't changed, everything around you has."  
  
James froze. "Lily."  
  
Sirius put an arm around his best friend and glared at Dumbledore.  
  
"What I think we should do about your lack of knowledge, is have you sit in on some of our classes. Also look over the records of what has happened since your." Dumbledore trailed off, what would you call death to a man who had returned from the dead at the call of his friends and the world's impending doom?  
  
"Damn it Albus! I know how to take care of myself! Just let me save those people!" ________________________________________________________________  
  
James stood on the Astronomy Tower, letting the wind riffle through his hair. He looked down on the world below him with a sorrowful expression. Something had been taken from him and he could never get her back. Life seemed meaningless without her.  
  
He contemplated jumping but remembered why he had returned to the doomed world of the living. He had a duty. He could not turn his back on Sirius and Remus now.  
  
He could not leave them to be damned without him. If he turned his back on the world now, it was all over for everyone. As far as the people of the earth knew, they were already condemned to a life of terror, tragedy, and pain, if they had a life at all.  
  
Looking up at the darkened sky above him, James vowed he would save these people, promise them a chance. He was back, and ready to fell the final blow on Voldemort's reign of terror. Was it just him, or did a ray of sun break through the infinite darkness? ________________________________________________________________  
  
Unknown to James, Sirius was doing some thinking of his own.  
  
As his world changed around him, Sirius wasn't sure which way was up anymore. Terror corrupted judgement and Sirius just wanted to let the world know there was hope. Grief clouded his mind, who knew when this nightmare would end?  
  
Looking back on his life, wondering if it was all worth it, Sirius remembered the trials they had gone through in their youth. It reminded him of the hysteria they were living through now.  
  
They had nearly crumbled under the pressure war coated over the world. Sirius turned his mind back to those terrible, tragic times of ten years ago. ________________________________________________________________  
  
Flash Back  
  
Sirius's Thoughts  
~  
  
After getting lost in the forest, Lily and James emerge together, to the happiness of their friends, and the anger and hate of others. Will the tricks and treachery never end?  
  
James kidnapped. Lily disbelieving. Will they hold together or is this the breaking point for everyone? Tempers are running wild and fear can corrupt anyone.  
  
Remus finds Lily on the Astronomy Tower after the big break up. Will this be the end of the Marauders? Or can they stay together through war, lies, pain, and love?  
  
Lily corners James after the big break up and demands the truth. Could this be the beginning of something both good and awful? Will anyone survive the betrayal?  
  
Remus discovers what he has known all along. When he confronts Lily will the wave of emotions destroy them all? Or will Lily and James find it in themselves to forgive each other?  
  
A letter from Remus to Lily, that she receives the day after he tells her what they both known all along. Will it soften the blow? Or make tension over ride the strongest of friendships?  
  
Letters from the Marauders, Lily, and May. When the truth is finally spoken, will anyone fight for it?  
  
A year after their fallout, a prank war starts the pain, deception, lies, and love all over again.  
  
A brutal attack on Hogwarts starts a tirad of fear. When the worst comes to pass, will deeper emotions bring them together again? ________________________________________________________________  
  
Sirius had never forgotten. Not as long as he had been fighting this terrible war. They all had lost that day. May had fallen victim to a Death Eater's curse, they had lost her. And then Lily and Harry had been murdered a little over two years later, only to be followed by James later that year.  
  
Sirius remembered the pain they all had felt. His had been the worst, surrounded by Dementors, who remembered those days for two years. They had been the worst two years of his life, followed by Peter's capture and eventual death, Sirius had learned to hope again. And now that hope had been fully restored by the return of a dead man, his best friend, their savior, James Potter. 


End file.
